The prophetic events found in The Book of Daniel and in The Revelation of John are of great interest to students of scripture, and every Christian denomination has placed their own interpretations upon them. Many have been rather sound in their explanation, while still leaving room for uncertainty. This work does not represent the views of any particular religion, and the facts may be far different than commonly considered.

Friday, August 12, 2011

Part 12:

The Beast of Revelation 13VERSE-BY-VERSE

Revelation 13:1: “And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.”

The sea is people, tongues and nations as stated in Revelation 17:15. The seven heads are the seven empires: Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome, and Islam. After Rome fell in the year A.D. 476, it later divided into10 nations—the 10 horns.

Revelation 13:2: “And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.”

Once we understand John’s beast, which is like a leopard-bear-lion, we understand it to be a composite of Daniel’s three beasts: the leopard as being Greece, the bear as Medo-Persia, and the lion as Babylon. These three were the first three of the four beasts of Daniel that conquered and controlled the Middle East and oppressed God’s people in ancient times. Today, John’s leopard-bear-lion beast is a combination of the same three empires—all together making up the Islamic Empire.

Some might claim that the Islamic countries in the Middle East do not constitute a real kingly empire because they are not united under one central government. But the God of the Bible is far more concerned with the spiritual realities in the Holy Land than He is with how many earthly governments it may have. The reality is this: All Middle Eastern Arabic nations are united under one religion, Islam, and all Moslems have one central goal: world conquest for their religion.

Revelation 13:3: “And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.”

The deadly wound was inflicted on the beast (Islamic Empire) on October 10, 732, during the Battle of Tours (more properly Poitiers), France, by the hand of Charles “Martel,” nicknamed “The Hammer.” This battle not only marked the peak of the Islamic Empire, but the demise of its First Jihad (Holy War).

Jihad is a religious duty of Muslims. In Arabic, the word means “struggle,” or to “strive in the way of Allah.” Muslims use the word in a religious context to refer to three types of struggles: an internal struggle to maintain faith, the struggle to improve the Muslim society, or the struggle in a holy war. The jihad that inflicted the wound was in the latter sense—“a holy war.”

Before the Battle of Tours, the Arab forces were invincible. According to one unidentified Arab, “That army went through all places like a desolating storm.” The Islamic forces sacked and captured the city of Bordeaux, and then defeated the army of Duke Odo of Aquitaine at the Battle of the River Garonne; of which battle one western chroniclers stated, “God alone knows the number of the slain.” Duke Odo fled to Charles Martel, seeking help. (Right: artist impression of the Battle of Tours.)

The location of the Battle of Tours was close to the border between the Frankish realm and that of Aquitaine. The battle pitted Frankish and Burgundian (French) forces, under Charles Martel (The “Hammer”), against an army of the Umayyad Caliphate, led by Emir Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi.

Martel gathered his forces directly in the path of the oncoming Moslem army and prepared to defend themselves by using a phalanx style of combat. The invading Moslems rushed forward, relying on the slashing tactics and overwhelming number of horsemen that had brought them victories in the past. However, the French Army, composed of foot soldiers armed only with swords, shields, axes, javelins, and daggers, was well trained. Despite the effectiveness of the Moslem army in previous battles, the terrain caused them a disadvantage. Their strength lied within their cavalry, armed with large swords and lances, which along with their baggage mules, limited their mobility. The French army displayed great determination in withstanding the ferocious attack of the Moslems. It was one of the rare times in the Middle Ages when infantry held its ground against a mounted attack.

The French were victorious, and the literal head of the advancing army, Abdul Rahman, was killed. Without his leadership and guidance, the other Islamic commanders were unable to even agree on a new commander to lead them back into battle the following morning. The effect of the death of Abdul Rahman on both Islamic and world history was profound. (Left : Map of the Battle of Tours.)

Christian historians praised Charles Martel as the champion of Christianity, characterizing the battle as the decisive turning point in the struggle against Islam, a struggle which preserved Christianity as the religion of Europe. According to modern military historian Victor Davis Hanson, “most of the 18th and 19th century historians saw the Battle of Tours as a landmark battle that marked the high tide of the Muslim advance into Europe.” Leopold von Ranke felt that “Poitiers [Tours] was the turning point of one of the most important epochs in the history of the world.”

At this point I would like to present a couple of excerpts from two chronicles that gives a fairly good feel for what took place at Tours:

The Chronicle of Isidore of Beja’s:“Then Abderrahman, [the Muslim emir] seeing the land filled with the multitude of his army, crossed the Pyrenees, and traversed the defiles [in the mountains] and the plains, so that he penetrated ravaging and slaying clear into the lands of the Franks. He gave battle to Duke Eudes (of Aquitaine) beyond the Garonne and the Dordogne, and put him to flight—so utterly [was he beaten] that God alone knew the number of the slain and wounded. Whereupon Abderrahman set in pursuit of Eudes; he destroyed palaces, burned churches, and imagined he could pillage the basilica of St. Martin of Tours. It is then that he found himself face to face with the lord of Austrasia, Charles, a mighty warrior from his youth, and trained in all the occasions of arms.

“For almost seven days the two armies watched one another, waiting anxiously the moment for joining the struggle. Finally they made ready for combat. And in the shock of the battle the men of the North seemed like North a sea that cannot be moved. Firmly they stood, one close to another, forming as it were a bulwark of ice; and with great blows of their swords they hewed down the Arabs. Drawn up in a band around their chief, the people of the Austrasians carried all before them. Their tireless hands drove their swords down to the breasts [of the foe].

“At last night sundered the combatants. The Franks with misgivings lowered their blades, and beholding the numberless tents of the Arabs, prepared themselves for another battle the next day. Very early, when they issued from their retreat, the men of Europe saw the Arab tents ranged still in order, in the same place where they had set up their camp. Unaware that they were utterly empty, and fearful lest within the phalanxes of the Saracens were drawn up for combat, they sent out spies to ascertain the facts. These spies discovered that all the squadrons of the “Ishmaelites” had vanished. In fact, during the night they had fled with the greatest silence, seeking with all speed their home land. The Europeans, uncertain and fearful, lest they were merely hidden in order to come back [to fall upon them] by ambushments, sent scouting parties everywhere, but to their great amazement found nothing. Then without troubling to pursue the fugitives, they contented themselves with sharing the spoils and returned right gladly to their own country.

Chronicle of St. Denis:“The Muslims planned to go to Tours to destroy the Church of St. Martin, the city, and the whole country. Then came against them the glorious Prince Charles, at the head of his whole force. He drew up his host, and he fought as fiercely as the hungry wolf falls upon the stag. By the grace of Our Lord, he wrought a great slaughter upon the enemies of Christian faith, so that—as history bears witness—he slew in that battle 300,000 men, likewise their king by name Abderrahman. Then was he [Charles] first called “Martel,” for as a hammer of iron, of steel, and of every other metal, even so he dashed: and smote in the battle all his enemies. And what was the greatest marvel of all, he only lost in that battle 1500 men. The tents and harness [of the enemy] were taken; and whatever else they possessed became a prey to him and his followers. Eudes, Duke of Aquitaine, being now reconciled with Prince Charles Martel, later slew as many of the Saracens as he could find who had escaped from the battle.” (http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/732tours.html)(END OF THE TWO CHRONICLES.)

Both western and eastern historians agree that had Abdul Rahman prevailed at Tours, he would probably have conquered all of Europe; and all history would have been far different. Charles Martel and his Frankish Army were all that stood between Islam and the Western Christian world, but they prevailed gloriously. The wound was inflicted upon the beast, and there were no further Muslim invasions of Christian Europe. Charles’s victory has often been regarded as decisive for world history, since it preserved western Europe from Muslim conquest.

Many believe the Battle of Tours to be the most important battle of the Christian era, and the reason the whole world isn’t speaking Arabic and bowing toward Mecca today. All the world wondered after the beast, that nearly conquered the whole known world, before being stopped by Martel. Charles Martel was fighting against the astronomical odds of an Islamic cavalry of hundreds of thousands, but, notably, the Frankish troops won the battle without cavalry. Ninth-century historians interpreted the outcome of the battle as “divine judgment” in Martel’s favor, and gave Charles the nickname, “The Hammer.” The Battle of Tours was probably the most important battle in all of Europe’s past, but except for a handful of Historians, virtually no one never heard of it.

Revelation 13:4: “And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?”

We learned in Revelation 13:2 that it is the dragon (Satan) that gives his power, and his seat, and great authority to the beastly Islamic Empire. There are over 1.5 billion Muslims that worship this beast today. Through an ethnic view of John’s whole world, who indeed was able to make war with the beast that conquered nearly the whole known world.

Revelation 13:5-6: “And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.”

The mouth that was given to the beast was Muhammad and the Qur’an. The Islamic beast blasphemes God by saying that God has no Son, that there is no infinite atonement, man can atone for his own deeds by dying for the cause of Allah, and by dying such a death the individual can intercede for the living. Islam also renamed the “I AM” of the Bible, “Allah,” blaspheming His name again. They blasphemed His tabernacle by building the Dome of the Rock on the Holy Mount, God’s footstool, where Solomon’s Temple once stood and the Holy of Holies was once kept. Also, they and their god, Allah, curses Christians and Jews, blaspheming them that serve the Lord. It appears that the reverse of what Christians and Jews believe is what Mosloms believe; the antichrist in the Bible is the god of Islam, and the antichrist of Islam is the Christ of the Bible.

Revelation 13:7: “And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.”

For 152 years of the Islamic First Jihad, the Muslims slaughtered Jews and Christians, thus overcoming the saints, and nearly succeeding in claiming the whole known world for Allah.

Revelation 13:8: “And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”

Below: a map of the First Jihad through an ethnographic view, or looking at it through John’s eyes.
Below: a color map of the Second Islamic Jihad, and the percentages of Moslems in each area as of today.
Revelation 13:9: “If any man have an ear, let him hear.”

Revelation 13:10: “He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.”

They led the saints into captivity, and then they were taken captive by the two-horned beast. They battled with the weaponry described—the sword. The First Jihad required 152 years of patience and faith for the saints to endure, and Islam continues to oppress God’s people unto this day.

Revelation 13:11: “And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.”

Kingdom, or “beasts,” rise up out of the earth. But this beast is like a lamb, or better translated lambkin, meaning it will appear to be Christian, or doing the Lord’s work. But this beast spake as a dragon, so we know that, in fact, his works are more the works of Satan than Christ. When we look to the history of the area we find the two horns that fit this beast is the Western Christian world which initiated the infamous Crusades; the wars of raping, pillaging, and plundering in the name of the Christ. Indeed the spoils of pillage were a big incentive for many, and some were told that if they went to fight they would be given blanket absolution from sin for the rest of their lives, so how would men be expected to behave?

Revelation 13:12: “And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.”

Before him in this verse means “in the presence of” or in front of. So the two horned beast was exercising control as the first beast—the Islamic First Jihad—but in the presence of the Islamic beast; not instead of. Two horns caused those on earth to worship the first beast by healing the deadly wound caused at the Battle of Tours. Through Western wealth-transfer, by oil purchase and arms shipment, the Second Jihad is being financed in the image of the First Jihad. The Israel National News (July 11, 2007) said, “IDF MI also is of the opinion that sanctions against Iran have not weakened the regime, because huge oil reserves still provide all the money necessary to neutralize any pressure created by the international community.” The Western Christian world is financing their own demise by tolerating and encouraging Islam, which is the world’s fastest growing religion—to the shame of today’s Christianity.

Revelation 13:13-14: “And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by [the means of] those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.”

Through an ethnographic interpretation of scripture, the earlier manifestation of this might be British artillery or, prior to that, perhaps the catapulted fireballs during the Crusades; and more recently we have witnessed the tremendous spectacle of desert storm and the wonder of “smart” bombs “in the sight of men.”

The world was deceived into believing that the Western powers, through these wonders, could continue to have influence over this beast by yielding the power they exercised over to the Islamic beast. Indeed, even empowering the beast with Western wealth-transfer to finance the Second Jihad to conquer with 2 million slain in Sudan alone, and 55 countries yielding to Islam worldwide—so far.

Today the Saudi’s (the most radical Wahabi sect) spend over 10 billion per year setting up Islamic centers and mosques in the U.S. alone. Regarding peace in the Middle East, has the Lord allowed those people to live peacefully together and prosper, whose collective primary religious tenant is the “spirit of antichrist”? Peace doesn’t exactly describe the historical reality of this part of the world. And today we see the Shiite murder and bloodshed, and the relatively backwards 3rd world conditions the people suffer under, in spite of the trillions of dollars that the world has transferred to the area through oil purchase and weapons sales.

The Second Jihad of today is the image of the First Jihad, that was mortally wounded in the Battle of Tours, and “did live” indeed.

Revelation 13:15: “And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.”

And two horns had the power to give life unto the Second Jihad by Western wealth transfer through oil purchase.

If a Saudi doesn’t show up for morning prayers they send the police to his house. Regarding those killed, Saudi Arabia is the beheading capital of the world. The penalty for “apostasy” or turning away from Islam, is death by beheading, as we nearly witnessed with world-wide attention in Afghanistan. In order to avert the spectacle of beheading an Afghani, just because he became a Christian, and the global outrage it would have inspired, the Afghan government had to pretend he was mentally incompetent.

Revelation 13:16: “And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:”

This mark of the beast is a spiritual mark. Our heads and thoughts drive the works of our hands to do Satan’s work.

John wrote in Revelation 9:4 about the locusts that came upon the earth, that they were not to hurt anything but those who had not the “seal of God in their foreheads.” This seal was not a physical mark, but a spiritual one; the same with the mark of the beast, which will be discussed in the next part of this study. If this mark of the beast were to be physical then how is the “seal of God in their foreheads” to be physically manifest? After all, does God really need the aid of a mark in order to sort us all out? I don’t think so!

If it was to be a microchip, a Social Security Number, or something like that, what would happen if you were under general anesthesia and the doctor implanted you when you were unconscious? Would you then go to hell? If so, then God would not be a just God; but He is just. And to justify God in condemning those who take the mark, those people will have to make a conscious choice as to whom they will serve — either the Lord Jesus Christ, or some other god. It is as simple as that.

Revelation 13:17: “And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.”

This is the condition of the Middle East today, the beheading capital of the world. John’s whole world is where life is becoming ever more impossible for that tiny remnant that do not carry the mark.

Revelation 13:18: “Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.”

There are some Muslims who testify that the Allah is the 666. And being the number of “a man”: “GOD made His Messenger a witness with the letter Qaf and the number 666.” If that is true, then the Lord could return this day and find that the entire geographic world in which John lived already has the mark of the beast, save a very few only.

At the present time, the Islamic religion is the fastest growing religion on the planet. And within the United States of America it is making great strides, with many Christians tolerating this Satanic religion. Not only that, we have a man in the White House who is a Moslem, who denounces Christ and ridicules the Holy Bible, and claims this country, founded by Almighty God, is no longer a Christian nation. But if the reader was ever worried about having to take the mark of the beast, have no fear—unless you refuse to become a Moslem.